A Paone Thing

Ah, someone commented about my blog and how they used to read it. I am sure I’ve lost most of my readership with how unfaithful I’ve been. The thing is…. okay, to be honest, what took over is Shutterfly photo books. They started sending me these deals I couldn’t resist over Christmas. (Justin’s not allowed to comment). I ended up making photo books for Christmas gifts for some folks, which is fun, but slightly time consuming. Pretty much any free moment I would get was spent building, tweaking, editing, checking, changing – arg! And just when I thought I had enough, I had to go make a few for myself and catch their new years sale. I am a total sucker for deals, I’ll admit. So… that’s my real excuse for being absolutely absent from BOTH Face book and blogging. Well, that and helping to plan Christmas events. That always swallows up any available time at this time of year. Anyways… I plan to get back to blogging soon.

In other news, my good friends Nic and Sherry arrived last night. I still can’t believe they came back to San Diego. I thought they were gone forever, but here they are with 3 beautiful children to show for their time away. Violet spent a good part of the day being insecure, overwhelmed and shy, but she had a blast tonight, pulling out every toy she had to impress Riana and Jude enjoyed having Daren around, a little boy to be rowdy with. He gave him the “i’ll see if you still like me after I beat you over the head with a tinker toy stick.” and Daren, after a few tears, did pass the test and was rewarded with a sweet, I’m sorry hug afterwards. Let’s hope Daren survives.

We had vacation and got to spend time with friends — Steve and Linda, Feli, Michael and Amy, Phil and Paula. Phil and Paula have a cute little apartment. I didn’t get to see the college crew’s pad, but I hear it’s equally cute. Oh, one major highlight had to be the Munchkin game Justin and I played with Kenji and Jer. It’s a very silly take off on games like Dungeons and Dragons. Anyways, the big news is I actually won. I’m feeling very proud of myself considering Jer and Kenji (and Justin) are all very intimidating to play with. I’ll probably never repeat that, but the feeling was… priceless.  We spent quality time at the San Diego Wild Animal Park on a number of days. I’m going to have that place memorized, but the kids love it.  Going through their pine tree botanical gardens made me miss Yosemite though.

The kids are doing well. Jude is understanding a lot these days. He does very well at shaking his head for “no.” He has a whole sentence that means “yes” though. Like “voovooovooo dadadad dididibabia” or something like that. He shakes his little finger at you if you tell him “no”. I haven’t figured out if that means “I get you. I heard you say ‘no’. Now excuse me while I do it anyway.” or if he really is just sassy and saying, “don’t tell me no.” It feels more like the former, but hey, I’m the mom. Don’t we all give our kids the benefit of the doubt on everything?

Violet got a few more cavities filled and did just great. She’s now the proud owner of a few “Aurora” teeth and a Cinderella tooth, I think. She looked a little like she had a lipo job on her lips for a few days though. She’s still growing like a little weed, or beanstalk? I think she may be growing out of the princess dress phase. She doesn’t seem to care about them all that much anymore. Ah, well. I think the tom boy phase may follow. She’s started wanting to take pictures. I’ll have to post a few when I get a chance.

Have you seen the new books Activated Ministries just got in? I bought a set for Violet and Jude last week and they’re Violet’s favorite books for now. They’re created by Daniel Miller and his company, Golden Quill in England. I was very impressed. You should check them out if you get a minute. Jude loves their Baby Bible and Violet’s favorite has to be “the Camel’s Nose.” We’ve had a little war going on when we have to choose a book to read. My favorite is the “Rock in the Road.” They are well done, good art, funny, simple text, are stories I’ve loved growing up, and they keep my kids’ interest.Very nice

Justin and Jude are both October boys and we’ve been having fun celebrating in anticipation of each of their big days. We celebrated Jude’s birthday at Oma’s Pumpkin Patch with a bunch of his little friends. The kids loved the hay maze, the cotton seed slide. Jude was in Heaven getting to ride on all the big farm equipment. He was a little horror on the hayride, but that was my fault for not following my instincts that he was still a little too young for that. Violet is a pro at milking cows and Jude’s good at terrorizing the baby cows in the petting zoo. For Justin’s birthday celebration, we teamed up birthdays with Maria of Sam (Doehler) and enjoyed beer and sausages (and real beer floats) at the Stone Ale Brewery Gardens and Bistro in Escondido. I fell in love with that place and can’t wait to go back. I haven’t seen anything quite like it, the mix of modern architecture, beer and gardens. If you’re ever in Escondido, ask me to take you there. I’d be happy to oblige.

Tomorrow is Justin’s big day. He’s been a little sick with sinus problems, but hopefully he’ll be up and around tomorrow enough to party just a little.  Jude, meanwhile, yep… he’s still teething. Another molar just broke through, poor baby. Violet is a happy little clam…. er, mermaid these days. She’s just being her princessy little self. I scored a few princess dresses and a some cute outfits for her at the annual Parent Connection swap meet. So, be on the lookout for Belle or Snow White (with a real red bow) walking around our home next time you’re over.  You’ll score extra brownie points if you can name the princess right and comment on her dress when she looks down and pats it timidly.  Jude, meanwhile, is busy practicing with his dragon gear. Apparently he’s got a knight or two to take out with some firey breathing in a couple weeks at the kids dress up party.

Here are a few pictures at the Pumpkin Patch

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To keep this from being my absolute worst posting month, I’m sneaking in one last September post. — just a small update. I can’t give any major excuses for my absence from the blog, except maybe really bad internet.  The two constants in my life these days — bad internet and Jude teething. Heh. He just got his first molar this past week. He walks, talks, reads… okay, fine — he just walks and shrieks all throughout the house all day. Other than that, he’s about the naughtiest kid on the block at the moment. We were joking about needing to make him a special play box with plugs, a fan, some extra electric sockets, sprinkler heads, small rocks, a spoon to bang on things, a cell phone and IPOD to throw in the garbage or flush down the toilet the second you’re not looking. He rushes out the door every time it opens and God forbid you try to sneak out of the room without him. He will walk up and bite you on your toes and feet if you’re not paying attention — or give you a nice bear hug followed by a little bite on the shoulder. Ahem. He turns one on October 24th and will celebrate his first birthday (weather permitting) at Oma’s Pumpkin Patch with a few friends. So… that’s the 411 on Jude the Terrible.

Violet is my fairy princess. She’s going to her first official fairy party this coming weekend. Her friend, Carly, is turning 4, so that’s the occasion. She’s decided to be the Christmas Tree fairy. She has also decided that I can be no other than Poppy and Jude must be “little white clover.” Hmmm… We should have a few pictures to post in  a few short days. Violet is still learning to speak clearly, but her vocabulary is quite extensive. -She made her first real trip to the dentist last week and I was so proud of her.  I was nervous of having her sedated unless it was absolutely necessary and she ended up doing fine with the laughing gas. She was so brave and didn’t make a peep. She goes back in in few weeks to get her other two cavities filled — yep, she had 4. The dentist said it was from not flossing.

Justin and I celebrated our 5th anniversary by getting to go have a nice dinner sans two little ruffians. We enjoyed a few hours to dress up and go out to a fancy restaurant for some grown up time. That was fun! It’s been an exciting 5 years. I feel bad I didn’t do a anniversary post this year, but the good news is we BOTH remembered our anniversary in plenty of time to plan something nice together. Progress!

Well, that’s the midnight report. I’m tired and off to bed to wake up tomorrow morning in October, the month of birthday boys, time changes  and holloween parties.   Good night!

The Parent Swap Meet is on October 11 this year and is again in the parking lot of the Canyon Crest High school.

I am now the proud mother of a 10 month old. He’s such a little charmer, calls me “Mama,” waves, claps, sings. And then, a few days ago, Jude up and starts walking. He’s so proud of himself. He’s been balancing and taking a step here and there, but I haven’t been encouraging him much as I’m a firm believer in the crawling phase being very important. Well, that, and I’ve had this selfish desire to keep him a baby just a little bit longer. Then, last weekend Jude and I visited a family who has a toddler about Jude’s size who was walking all around. I could tell he was processing the fact that if this kid can do it, he probably could too. Anyways, we got home and immediately he started working on walking, turning, standing up and now he’s real getting the whole walking thing down. He’s also doing pretty good on the multi-tasking part of it. He can grab something, clap, carry a ball, waves his arms — all while walking (with just “a few” falls on his bottom). I was discussing his walking with Violet and that now he’s not so much of a baby anymore. She immediately pipes up, “Mommy, you need to have another baby now.” Ahem.

These little guys are growing so fast. Violet had her first sleepover last week in our guest room with her little 3 year old friend, Elena. I was worried that Violet would wake up and miss us, but apparently that didn’t happen. She woke up the next morning and bounced into the room to grab a few toys. I tried to say good morning and hug her, but she was so worried about getting back to play with her friend… grrr… Apparently, she also did not cry for us at all. She just played till midnight with Elena and then crashed on her own bed. I’m going to miss these days.

Only 2 weeks late, but here is the proof that Jude and I attended the 2009 CHEA Convention in Long Beach this year. Well, Jude, me and about 20 others. We celebrated Christy’s 18th birthday at Sevilla’s Spanish Restaurant and then Jude and I woke up early the next morning and enjoyed the Long Beach Aquarium. Perfect end to a wonderful weekend!

If you’re a Christian parent and have never been to a CHEA (Christian Home Educator’s Assoc.) Convention (like me till this past weekend), you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s a blast! I didn’t know what to expect and thought it was a very bad idea to try and attend something like this with a small… er, very large, baby in tow. But Activated Ministries is sponsoring the entrance fees for missionary parents this year and ALL my friends were going and insisted that I at least try. It turned out to be just what I needed at this point in my parenting life. I’ve been feeling so guilty about feeling like I just don’t have a grasp on where to start with educating my little ones. Oh, I know they’re just 3 and under 1 years old… and, yes, I know all parents probably feel guilty no matter what they do, but I’m talking more about that nagging feeling that there IS something you can do and you’re just not focusing on it enough to find out where square one is.  I don’t want early readers or child prodigy’s, but I want to feel like I have a plan for my kids and that they’re at least getting some quality focus and the right foundation both academically, spiritually and in their character building.

The CHEA helped set some things in motion that will help me with that and I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit of a jump start now. They had amazing classes on so many different topics. Well, to be honest, tugging around an 8 month old who only wants to flirt with all the other girl babies in the class and discuss his opinions as loudly as the designated speaker, got me kicked out of at least one class. I got about 5 classes (out of maybe a hundred). My favorites were one given by David Hazell of My Father’s World on the topic of Occupying your preschooler while you’re doing other stuff. To be honest, I was trying to get tips on how to keep Violet happier while I’m doing email, but instead I feel he totally renewed my vision for home schooling at a time when I was losing that vision. He made it seem so doable and like something I could probably still do even if I have other work and responsibilities. I mean, here’s a dad who homeschooled his six children while his wife had to go back to work, one of them a nursing baby. I have it easy, right?

Then, the other speaker that really caught me was named Andrew Kudrow, or something along those lines. He gave an amazing lecture about the ways boys learn differently than girls. He recommended a book called Why Gender Matters, by Leonard Sax that explains the scientific differences between the sexes, such as… girls actually hear and see better or differently than boys do. There’s a whole lot to the lecture, but it sounds like a very interesting

I’m just starting to grasp some of that home schooler lingo now, but I did get to go to a convention and it’s definitely worth it. I recommend going if you want to get any help with parenting. These are pros… Christian pros.

Anyway, Jude and I had fun. We sneaked out of the hotel room on the last day to let the other girls we went with sleep in. We were just going to walk around Long Beach and kill time, but… heheh, I came across a really cool aquarium that I couldn’t resist. So we ended up hanging out with a bunch of fish, jelly fish and an awesome octopus for a couple hours. My favorite was the Sea Otter though.

A happy late father’s day to mine and Justin’s dad, Jeff and Ken. Sorry, guys! Just ask Jude. I worked on a whole posts yesterday and hit the post button as we ran out the door to Dona Lupe’s winery for a pizza. Okay, so Jude’s not talking yet, but if he could…

Ah, well, happy fathers day to you both. We wish we could show you our appreciation in person for all the years of faithful hard work raising your little angels. We love you, guys and pray you had a good day and that our siblings who live closer to home treated you to a breakfast in bed and other father’s day goodies.

And, Justin, thanks for being such a wonderful dad to our little ones. They aren’t real bloggers yet, so on their behalf, I want to send you their father’s day wishes. Aren’t you having fun being a dad?  I probably should enlighten  you that they MAY have you wrapped around their little fingers. Ah, they’re only little once. We’re going to miss this, you know. Here’s to another wonderful year of parenthood! We love you.

I’m so excited! Mike and Amy (no, they don’t have a blog yet,) had their baby yesterday, May 15th. Little Conner William Vitali is finally here. I hear he’s another little chunker being a week late and all. Congrats, Mike and Amy and little Conner. We’re waiting for pictures (and plan to come by and be yet more pesky visitors wanting to see the first born son). We love you!

Ah, the spring Parent Connection swap meet came and went. I have a nice sun burn to show for it, but I also have lots of other goodies. One of these days, I swear I will organize my room and all my kids’ stuff (maybe once the kids grow up and are ready to leave home) heh. No, I was a good girl and really tried to limit my purchases to small things. I realized that I think I love the experience of getting what I feel is a good deal as much as I enjoy bringing home goodies for the kids. Violet thinks it’s Christmas all over again. Justin and Jude on the other hand… I need to start building up my brownie points again. I was actually pretty impressed with Justin. His mission for the short time he was there was to find Polly Pockets. So he went from stall to stall asking if they had any Polly Pockets for sale. He wasn’t terribly successful (I think every parent was looking for Pollys), but someone donated some Polly furniture.
What I really wanted though, I got. I needed a wagon for Yosemite to haul Chunkie and his sister around in and, thanks to Luca who found some sort of back entrance that got him in 20 minutes before everyone else, we are now the proud owner of a Radio Flyer Discovery Wagon…. With a canopy. SCORE! I’ll have to have Jude model that one. He loves it and has been spotted sitting like a little prince as he’s pulled around the play yard. I found Jude a new reversible car seat so he can stretch his little (chunky) legs out finally. The big find though was right at the end. I was doing my final scouring of the booths and found a tub of Duplo. It was a doll house with all the pieces. I asked how much and the little girl informs me she was asking $5 for it originally, but has lowered her price to $4. So that was a nice surprise. Violet’s all set for all the holidays with fancy dresses, which I found for $1 each. One tired, sun-baked lady tried handing me the $10 I paid her with, but being a good Christian I let her know that she wasn’t actually giving me change for a $20. I had just given her $10. (Don’t I feel righteous?) I always feel I can’t afford to not go to the swap meet. I really save a lot by going there. Anyways, I’m a happy shopper today. I can handle the sunburns, although I swear I will remember to slather that lotion ALL over my arms next time. Arg!